Angkor WHAT?!

Quick, close your eyes! Empty your mind. Think: Cambodia. What do you see? Probably Angkor Wat, the world's biggest religious building. And with good reason: Angkor is to Cambodia what Lady Liberty is to NYC--only, having seen them both now, I can say with authority that Angkor is far more impressive. (No offense intended towards the tired, poor, huddled masses, etc.) It's just that you can't top this in terms of the effect it has on a person. In fact, despite its magnitude, the iconic shape of Angkor has reached far beyond its dimensions and has become the national symbol for all things Cambodian, even so far as to be featured on their flag. Again, with reason.

Although it's hard to get a bad photo of such an enigmatic subject, pictures really don't do it justice. Of course, that didn't stop us from trying. One of my favorite images of the whole trip was watching two young monks, clad in bright orange monastic robes and flip-flops, joking with one another on the ruined steps, just like Ellen and I were from the window sill on which we perched. Scenes like that have a way of making the world seem a little cozier.

Magnificent as Angkor was, we each had our own favorites of the multitude of temple sites we visited. In a smart move, we hired a tuk-tuk (like a small, roofed carriage with open sides, pulled by a motorcycle) to take us around the sites.

Bayon

Some tourists were were in cars, and the truly intrepid braved the Southeast Asian humidity on bicycles. They were in better shape than us, but we had a better time. Softer lives, softer bodies. Ellen took to Bayon temple, where an ancient king whose name presently escapes me built a temple/fortress carved with 216 identical images of HIS face. At first, I thought, vanity reached new heights with this guy. But the more I think about it, it's a pretty effective psychological strategy. Think about an enemy, or if that's too extreme, maybe just an officemate that makes you crazy. You're off to their cubicle to get back the hole-puncher they lifted from your desk--again--and you've had it this time, and you're ready to pick a fight, and ohmygod they've turned their entire cubicle into a personal shrine, from which their OWN FACE stares at you from every angle, 216 different angles, in fact. How unnerving that would be, on such a grander scale, for the ancient enemies of the Khmer (Cambodian) people.

Ta Prohm

My hands-down favorite was Ta Prohm. I am prepared to say that the closest I'll ever get to being Lara Croft was at this temple, where the millenial battle between man and nature was neatly showcased in the 1200-year struggle between the temple, defending its place on the continent, and the jungle, attempting to reclaim what's rightfully hers. Yes, I just decided they were she-trees. It was stunning. Huge roots pushed away stones and seeped through cracks in the walls, crawling under and over one another like twisting pythons. I found the entire experience humbling, and I have to admit that I couldn't help but root for the trees.

floating village

By the way, I just learned how to insert photos directly into these postings...so that's a thing you can all look forward to out there in ReaderLand. That sentence will serve as a segue to the second major sight in Siem Reap, the floating village.

It's pretty self-explanatory--a village that floats--but it was nonetheless cool. Instead of buses, the children take a canoe to school, which is no small act of dedication considering there are crocodiles in the river!

Maybe it's not so scary if that's what you know, but I'll take the lacsadaisical waters of the Columbia, thank you very much.

I am concerned about kid in a bucket with a snake over croc-infested waters

Siem Reap, Cambodia